Explore new ways to integrate technology into teaching & learning

Google Goggles for visual searches

On Monday Google announced “Google Goggles”, a visual search application for its Android mobile operating system. Point a phone like Motorola’s “Droid” at a landmark, work of art, or bottle of wine and the program will tell you what it is – or maybe offer to sell you one.

The app will be available for iPhone later. Whoah! That’s a switch – a cool mobile app that does not appear first on the iPhone. Similar items are available for the iPhone, such as the Cortexica apps and Tin Eye Music, but they are not as comprehensive as Google Goggles. Competition is a good thing, and it’s about time Apple had some serious company in the smartphone development arena.

As a humanities guy, I love that you can use Google Goggles to identify works of art. All kinds of possibilities are suggested by the availability of software that recognizes images and can compare them to a database. Readers, I’d love to see some comments with ideas for educational applications of this technology.

Okay, I’ll get the app-ideas ball rolling. How about one where you point the camera at a student’s face and it tells you their name? If you had other data, it could do more, but even such a mundane app could be useful.